Financial services firms operate under constant internal and external threats including unauthorized access to data and IT assets, loss of availability, physical and intellectual property theft, natural disaster, malicious attack, fraud schemes and safety risks to personnel. As a result, companies that don't prepare for these risk events and the disruptions they bring are subject to potential financial losses and reputation problems that can impact growth and profitability.

Interfor and IBM Physical and IT Security Services address these issues by helping financial services firms identify vulnerabilities and prepare for threats and disruptions to their business through a unique set of industry-proven offerings including:

Crisis Management and Threat Mitigation - Helps establish or test current corporate crisis response and provides investigative resources to protect companies from internal sabotage and other potential threats.
Physical Security Vulnerability Assessments - Uses a multi-step process to observe and analyze areas of potential and/or actual vulnerability to define causes and recommend means to reduce or eliminate exposure.
Business Resilience Consulting - Addresses risk to the business resulting from a range of threats to IT and infrastructure. Business Resilience solutions are provided to assess risks and the potential impact against business objectives, diagnose root cause, and design a blueprint to improve resilience and implement solutions.
Information Technology Security Consulting - Includes comprehensive internal and external IT security options to protect data and networks from unauthorized access. Includes both detective and preventive controls for data security, internal/external fraud, identity and relationship resolution and compliance reporting solutions that can be easily implemented without undue disruption to normal business activities.
Executive Protection Consulting - In the global marketplace, the security needs of companies, executives and high profile individuals have become much more complex. IBM and Interfor provide clients with strategic protection options in order to secure meetings, events, public appearances and international travel.
Electronic Surveillance Countermeasures & Detection - Services include detecting possible electronic surveillance devices and design countermeasures to eliminate future threats. Includes a comprehensive physical and electronic sweep of any corporate facility or executive home and recommendations for appropriate security controls and measures to mitigate identified risks.

"IBM and Interfor have helped clients restore the integrity of their operations following incidents of fraud or other corporate malfeasance," said Juval Aviv, CEO, Interfor Inc. "Our two companies are bringing together our respective leadership and strengths in the physical and IT security industry to better prepare financial services firms against global threats and to protect them from reputational risk and financial harm."

Industry First: Comprehensive Physical and IT Security Vulnerability Assessment

Banks, financial markets firms, and insurance companies can now take advantage of the industry's first combined security vulnerability assessment to determine non-obvious vulnerabilities across physical and IT environments and define causes to reduce threats exposure and help businesses become more resilient.

The assessment includes a review of access control systems and procedures; ingress/egress procedures; intrusion detection systems; application of electronic control and digital video systems; employee and visitor identification procedures; IT processes and procedures; employee/vendor background investigations; and general personnel policies and procedures.

"Financial services firms are looking for new ways to stay three steps ahead of the bad guys," said June Yee Felix, general manager of banking solutions and strategy, IBM. "The combination of IBM and Interfor's expertise will help our joint clients identify current and emerging threats and better mitigate operational and reputation risk with minimal disruption to their business."

For more information about Interfor, visit www.interforinc.com.